Curatorial Statement

Fortune Cooking explores the diversity of Pan Asian cuisine, culture and artistic expressions. This festival will track the progression of flavours, trends and new developments from this influential continent.

Tapping into the Big Idea of "Terrain," we look first at "terroir" – the uniqueness of foods grown in specific soils and microclimates. More broadly, terrain also explores the impact of geographical placement and landscape in the development of food cultures. The food culture of the Silk Road regions of Asia is different from that of isolated mountain villages. The tea culture of the central highlands of Sri Lanka is different from that of China or Japan. What terrains led to the development of woks and chopsticks? And in Toronto's urban terrain, with cold Canadian winters and cross-pollination of cultures, Asian foods change again when they migrate to our streets.

This interaction of physical and human terrain affects not just cuisine, but all artistic expression. In music, dance, fashion and other art forms, we look at the impact of terrain on the local, regional and global art expressions of Asia.

Dorothy Szczurek

Suzanne Wyman

Margaret Saliba

On-site all the time

A programme of the complexity and size of the 2013 festival season is only possible with the cooperation, contributions and hard work of every department and all members of the entire Harbourfront Centre staff and volunteer teams. We extend our thanks to them all.